Thursday, November 20, 2014

Recondite - Iffy [Innervisions Promo]

Put on the circuit only via the highly appreciated Innervisions imprint is "Iffy", the third longplay effort from the studio vaults of Lorenz Brunner, better known under his Recondite moniker amongst lovers of electronic music these days. Praised for his unique amalgamation of technoid melancholia and his stripped down - not minimal! - approach in the use of rich sounding, partly cinematic but never kitschy melodies by the likes of Sven Väth or Richie Hawtin and backed with a massive string of releases on Absurd Recordings, Ghostly International, Dystopian, Innervisions, his own Plangent label and more, all of them released within a period of three years only, it's pretty obvious that this man is on a mission, following the paths of what the now Berlin-based but originally Bavaria-rooted producer regards as the very essence of electronic music. No matter if Recondite explores the realms of Techno or Electro or even wades through Acid-infused quagmires musically - it seems like he has found his magic formula in the use of only very few essential elements per track, usually one of of them being a huge, warm, very organic, simple and ever embracing bassline that's accompanied by a sparse, secluded yet yearning but still alien'esque synth melody evoking feelings of security and comfort whilst echoes of longtime dolor are ever present underneath this surface. Even a track like "Buteo" which is nothing but a cold latenight killer causing massive mayhem with its metallic sci-fi tones and brooding bassline evaporates some foreign, acrid fumes and so does the tense follow up "Duolo" that makes pretty sure that something evil and dangerous is lurking in the dark corners of each venue although heavenly analogue synth angels are guarding the sweaty, heavily heaving crowds whilst a tune like "Steady" presents vernal innocence and beauty within a classic piece of Ambient / Electronica paying homage to the genres early days of so-called Intelligent Dance Music and the beautiful, tender slow jam "Jim Jams" is waving farewell to exhausted ravers, sending them home safely after a long night out.